Transport vehicle and interchangeable freight container



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- TRANSPORT VEHICLE AND INTERCHANGEABLE FREIGHT CONTAINER Filed Oct. 14, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 29, 1948- w. P. KELLETT 7 I TRANSPORT VEHICLE AND INTERCHANGEABLE FREIGHT CONTAINER 1 Filed Oct. 14, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2- Infiznian Patented June 29, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TRANSPORT VEHICLE AND INTERCHANGE- ABLE FREIGHT CONTAINER William P. Kellett, New York, N. Y.

Application October 14, 1946, Serial No. 703,218

This invention relates to improvements in transport vehicles of the type in which a rail car is provided with twin rows of rollers arranged longitudinally of the deck and a movable freight container is provided with longitudinal skids to engage and roll on such deck rollers and the principal object of the invention is to provide roller contact members on the container to faci1itate the movement of the container on to the transport car when being transferred from a transport truck so that the container when tilted by'the operation of the elevating platform of the truck will roll freely until the longitudinal skids engage in proper level rolling contact with the car deck rollers.

The principal feature of the invention consists in the novel formation of the container with upwardly inclined ends and. the arrangement of roller members below said inclined ends to engage in rolling contact with trackways formed on the rail car to engage and support said rollers to guide longitudinal skids on the container into rolling. contact with rows of rollers mounted on the car deck.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevational view of one end of a transport rail car showing one end ofa container constructedin accordance with this invention being located thereon.

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross sectional part elevational view of my improved rail car showing in elevation the lower portion of an improved container mounted thereon.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross sectional detail of one of the longitudinal skids and one of the adjacent end rollers of the container.

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevational view of "0118 end of the car showing one end of the container in the position resting on the deck rollers of the car.

Figure 5 is a plan View of one end of the rail (car showing a portion of one end of the con- :tainer supported thereon.

Figure 6 is an enlarged part sectional elevaitional detail of a portion of the container show- .:-ing one of the end contact rollers and a portion :of the car deck with one of the car deck rollers ;supp0rting same.

In the development of transportation facili- "ties for the handling of freight, particularly in L. C. L. quantities, the individual movable container is being used extensively, such containers being carried by trucks from rail'terminals to warehouses. and it is important that the rail car equipment and the containers should be capable 3 Claims. (Cl. 214--84) of being moved from truck to car and back with the least possible efiort and without the necessity of special crane or hoisting facilities.

It has been proposed to provide rail cars with longitudinal rows of rollers mounted on the deck to enable the containers to be rolled easily on the deck surface but difiiculties have been encountered in the initial movement of the container from the truck to the car.

Numerous types of transport trucks with elevating platforms have been used inputting a container service into operation and it is highly desirable to use a truck with an elevating platform which can be tilted endwise to enable the con-- tainer being shifted from truck to car by gravity, the truck platform beingtilted to give a rolling impetus to the container.

The present invention has been devised to overcome the diificulties encountered in the above operation.

In the construction of rail car herein shown the outer longitudinal deck'plates 2 are sup ported between the longitudinal channel bars 3 and 4. r l

Channelbars 5 are arranged parallel with the channels land spaced inwardly therefrom, and the top flange of each of the channels 5 israised above the level of the deck 2. i

A pair of centrally arranged spaced-apart channels 6 are arranged centrally of the width of the deck and form a guiding groove for the guide roller I mounted on the underside of the container 8 centrally of its width.

Deck plates 9 are supported between the central spaced channels 6 and the channels 5. The outer edges of these plates form the longitudinal trackways II) which are raised above the remainder of the deck surface. u

Arranged in the outer deck plates 2 which extend inwardly to the channels 4 are a plurality of transverse slots I I and secured to the inward and outward sides respectively. of the channels 4 and 5 are brackets l2 supporting the journal pins of rollers l3 which extend slightly above the deck surface.

These rollers are arranged in two longitudinal rows immediately outside of the raised trackways In and form rolling supports for longitudinal skids 13' extending lengthwise of the bottom of the container 8. These skids are, as shown in Figure 3, formed of a rolled section U- shaped in cross section with outwardly turned flanges l4 at the top secured to theunderside of the container bottom IS.

The terminal ends of the skids I3 are formed container is being loaded on to the rail car from a truck, the truck platform will be tilted, as indicated in Figure 1 of the drawing, and the roller members 20 will first contact the longitudinal trackways ill on the car deck.

The upwardly sloping ends of the containers permit the contact of these rollers without the end structure of the container fouling the deck or the trackway. Consequently the rollers will ride freely on the track-way and they are guided into place to contact the trackways by the guide roller 1 extendingdownwardly from the con-tainer midway of its width engaging the longitudinal slot formed'between the channels '6 and the deck plates 9.

As the container is transferred from the truck deck to the car deck the rollers 20 carry the container along with a free movement until the tailend of the container, moving downwardly, brings the bottom of the container into a horizontal position, and as this movement occurs the skids l3 on the underside of the container, which extend downwardly below thebottom to a point level with the bottom perimeter of the rollers 20, engage the deck rollers l3. Thus the container is supported throughout its length on a plurality of the deck rollers spaced apart in a longitudinal row on the deck of the rail car.

it will be understood that, by providing the trackways ID on the rail car'and the rollers 25 on the container, the operators handling the containers will not be required to manipulate the truck platform to anicety to bring the skids into rolling contact with the deck rollers, as the end rollers 20 will contact the trackways i0 and carry the slanting end of the container along over the if deck until contact is made between the skids and the rollers l3. 7

It will be understood that the rail car is provided with suitable means for locking the con tainers in place upon the deck to hold such containers securely after they have been placed in position, and pivotal jack members 2! are shown arranged in recesses 22 in the car deck. These jacks areswung upwardly to extend into corner recesses 23 formed in the container and interlockingly engaged with socket members 2d to'loek the containers securely in place.

WhatI claim as my invention is:

1. A transport vehicle having a pair of rows of rollers mounted thereon extending slightly above the desk thereof, parallel trackways formed on said transport vehicle deck adjacent to the 1ongi-tudinalrows of rollers and extending parallel 4 thereto, a movable container having the ends of its bottom inclined upwardly, rollers mounted on said container and extending below said inclined ends to assume the weight of the container when tilted longitudinally and to register with and roll upon the parallel longitudinal trackways on said vehicle, longitudinal skids parallelly arranged on the und id o sa nta ne an dispos jacent to but not in alignment said container rollers and adapted to engage and roll upon the deck rollers of said transport vehicle and means to guide said movable container to maintain said container rollers and said skids in registration with said vehicle trackways and said vehicle rolls respectively.

2. A transport vehicle having a pair of parallelly arranged trackways raised above the deck surface extending from end-to-end thereof, a plurality of rollers extending slightly above the deck surface in rows parallel with said trackways, an interchangeable freight container having longitudinal skids parallelly arranged on the under-- side thereof the ends of which are bevelled upwardly, brackets mounted on said container adjacent to each end and adjacent said skids, rollers mounted in said brackets adjacent to the inclined ends of said skids and projecting therebeyond and to adjacent the bottom of the central portion of said skids and adapted to engage and roll upon the trackways formed in the transport vehicle and to guide the skids of said con tainer into contact with the deck rollers of the transport vehicle.

3. A transport vehicle having a pair of parallel longitudinal raised trackways extending from end-to-end and a central longitudinal slot arranged between said trackways, rollers arranged in longitudinal rows parallel with said -trackways having journals transverse to said trackways, a freight container having upwardly inclined end surfaces, brackets mounted on the underside of said containers at each end, rollers mounted in said brackets and extending below said upwardly inclined end surfaces and adapted to engage said trackways, roller guide pins mounted on the container adapted to engage the central guide slots of the transport vehicle deck, and skids extending longitudinally of the underside of said container adapted to engage said deck rollers.

- P. ;KELLE';II.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,252,899 Greer et 1. Jan: a, 1913 1,713,271 Eason -Ma 14, 1929 1,818,289 White Aug. -1 1, 1931 1,921, 05 Canfield 1 u g. 3', 1933 2,004,095 I-Iankins et a1. ,June l-1 1935 2,123,424 Kellett July 12 .1938 

